The spring of 2000 was the halcyon days of free agency for the New Orleans Saints. For two consecutive weeks, it seemed, the club held daily press conferences to introduce new players.

Jeff Blake. Joe Horn. Chris Oldham. Andrew Glover. Charlie Clemons. Jake Reed. Norman Hand. Toby Gowin.

For New Orleans' long-suffering fans, it was heady and exciting stuff.

Those days are gone, and that's a good thing, Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said. The Saints, Loomis said, are no longer in need of an extreme makeover. There's no reason to gamble on high-risk talents like Albert Connell, Grady Jackson or Dale Carter or take chances on injury question marks like Brian Williams, David Sloan or DeShone Myles.

Expect this free-agent period, which begins today, to look more like last season's, when the Saints targeted only a handful of key veterans.

"We've got a different type of team now," Loomis said Monday. "Then (in 2000), we were just trying to get talent -- period, regardless of position. Now we're in a different situation. We're in the mode of trying to help ourselves in selected areas."